Best Of
Re: Grant Application Scoring Rubric
We go at it a little differently in that the majority of our questions on the LOI are multiple choice and each answer option has a value assigned to it already (assigned by leadership/staff). We pull the data into the scoring template which automatically gives each organization a score per question and a total score so that we can sort and filter from there. And like many have said, this is truly just a starting point and doesn't dictate funding decisions or amounts or anything—it's just a way for us to narrow down our finalist pool where we then connect with the orgs to get more information.
Re: Distribution rate from 4% to 6%
We are planning to stay the course at 4.5% of a trailing 20 quarter average.
Distribution rate from 4% to 6%
Staff at our foundation are recommending that the Board consider increasing our 2026 distribution rate from the traditional 4% to 6%. This recommendation is based on two key factors: stronger-than-anticipated investment returns in 2025 and the expectation that nonprofits in our region will face increased demand and financial pressure in the coming year.
We’re interested in learning how other foundations are approaching 2026. Are you planning to maintain your current distribution rate, increase it, or take a different approach?
Re: Distribution rate from 4% to 6%
Our investment committee met earlier this week and reaffirmed our spending rate at 4%. We looked at our spending rate, Foundation admin fee, expected inflation, calculation period, and expected returns to make that determination. Positive returns in 2025 are helping improve the average from a few negative years in our calculation period.
Tuesday Tip: Earning Points in Compass!
Have you seen posts congratulating the top 10 members of Compass every month? Are you wondering how you can get on the leaderboard?
Every month, ten leaders will be entered into a drawing for a little pick-me-up! View the current month's leaders on the "This Month's Leaders" leaderboard in the left sidebar of most Compass pages or the Badges page. Here are the leaders of May so far, as of today (5/6/2025):
To earn points and climb the leaderboards, you can:
-Start discussions, ask questions or create a poll
-Respond to other's discussions, questions and polls
-React to posts by clicking the Like, Awesome, Vote Up, Agree and LOL icons under the post.
-Request badges
-Update your profile and add a profile picture
-Bookmark Compass on your mobile device to keep up with discussions on-the-go!
-Use the @ sign to tag other members in your posts and replies (ex. @GrettaKraus)
-Login to Compass regularly to keep up-to-date on what your peers are discussing!
Have fun!
-Gretta, Compass Intern
